Elizabeth J. "Betty" Macias

Betty was born in Minneapolis, MN, the first daughter of Oscar and Marie Torgeson. Growing up
on a farm, she had to quit school in her teens to take care of her siblings while her mother
worked outside the home. She did all the cooking, cleaning and ironing at home, and ironed for
other families as well. She also learned to sew. During this time, Betty remembered cooking for
laborers who came during harvest time to thresh the grain.
In 1950, Betty moved to San Diego, CA, got a job at Convair and lived with her oldest brother,
Ernie, and his wife, Margarita. Maggie, as she is called, became one of her dearest and best
friends. One day, at a football game, Betty met a brown-eyed handsome man. He was in the
Marine Corps and his name was Fred Macias. On their dates, they often took the bus to the
movies or to baseball games at Lane Field to watch the then Pacific Coast League Padres.
Afterward, they strolled along Harbor Drive.
Betty married Fred on Feb. 10, 1952, and became a full-time homemaker. Children followed.
Even though she was a busy wife and mother, Betty recalled with girlish delight meeting JFK
during his 1960 presidential campaign. She got to shake his hand, but in all the heart-stopping
excitement, dropped her autograph book before he could sign it. (Autographs were the selfies of
that era.)
Those who knew and loved Betty remember her as an active gal, so full of life. She was never
one to sit and be idle, unless that involved watching Judge Judy, Jeopardy, Law and Order, to
name a few, or doing puzzles and playing games, especially card games, Kings in the Corner
and Crazy Eights with her grandkids. She also loved to watch Tom and Jerry cartoons with her
grandson. She was a little picky about movies, but Driving Miss Daisy, Arsenic and Old Lace,
and I Remember Mama were three of her favorites. And then there was Bingo. Betty played that
game voraciously, sometimes going three, even four times a week in her later years. She
always got there early, got a lot of cards, saved seats for friends and even helped them set their
cards up.
Sports were a big deal to Betty. When you called her, she would often tell you exactly what she
was watching -- women’s softball or basketball, golf, men’s college baseball. She loved the
Olympics, too, both winter and summer. She was in a bowling league for 20 years, belonging to
the distinguished 500 Club. In the 1970s, Betty coached her daughters’ Bobby Sox softball and
girls track teams, leading the St. Rita’s Raiders to two consecutive championship titles.
Betty was a great cook, known especially for her Spanish rice, meatloaf, potato salad and
pancakes. She loved to bake, pies in particular. The lemon meringue was her masterpiece. She
was also known for her kolaches, pastries that hold a dollop of fruit (she used prunes) in a fluffy
pillow of dough. She treasured her mother’s handwritten recipe, preserving it in a plastic wrap in
her Betty Crocker cookbook.
Blessed with a meticulous memory, Betty could astonish people with her knack for details well
into her 80s. She always remembered names and knew the exact birth dates of not only her
children and grandchildren, but all of her nieces and nephews as well. Always eager to laugh,
she enjoyed telling and hearing a good story. She liked history, loved to discuss politics and
current events, and boy could she talk, often leaving messages on her children’s phones that
clocked in at more than a minute.
In 2004, Betty’s beloved Fred passed away, but with a fierce independence she soldiered on.
She will be remembered by friends and family alike for her kind, understanding and attentive
ways and her sweet, supportive, generous heart. We love and miss you, Betty, Mom, Nana,
sister, aunt, friend. God speed.
★ Betty is survived by her children, Maureen, Mark, Julie and Theresa; six grandchildren,
including Kevin, Marcus, Angelica and Cristina; sisters Mary, Myrna and Mandy;
brothers Ted and Mike; and many nieces and nephews
★ In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to Sharp Hospice at:
https://give.sharp.com/tribute-hospice